After a three-day trial, Thurman Williams was convicted on five of seven charges including aggravated sexual battery by parent or guardian on a victim age 13-17 and object sexual penetration.

Williams committed these crimes in a very atypical manner, over the telephone, from prison.

Commonwealth Attorney Wayne Emery said one of the unique factors in this case was that it originated at a prison and was accomplished elsewhere.

“The other unique thing about it was that the encouragement and incitement and all the matters that are necessary to be an accessory before the fact were accomplished over the telephone,” Emery continued. “There are some interesting issues.”

Emery said most of the charges were as an accessory before the fact—somebody who incites, counsels or encourages the actual perpetrator of the crime,.

“He was sitting in Haynesville penitentiary, unfortunate for everybody,” Emery said. “All of this that he did was accomplished over the telephone while the child was in Virginia Beach.”

The most implicating pieces of evidence used against Williams were the phone calls. The phone system used by the prison informs the callers that the phone calls are recorded. The phone calls were played in the courtroom and presented an explicit image of anger and coercion towards a young girl.

“I’ve been litigating for more than 40 years, that was probably… not probably…